Tuesday

Nov 21, 2017 at 5:24 PMNov 21, 2017 at 5:29 PM

Proponents of a major sales tax cut and supporters of a $15 minimum wage and a paid family and medical leave proposal say they've gathered more than enough signatures to advance their proposals, setting up issues showdowns in the Legislature in early 2018.

Raise Up Massachusetts, the coalition behind a 2014 earned sick time ballot law and an income surtax that's also targeted for the 2018 ballot, says it has accumulated more than 275,000 raw signatures to submit to local city and town clerks for certification prior to a 5 p.m. Wednesday deadline.

Business groups are warily eyeing the proposals, which would add to labor costs, while supporters view the measures as a strike against income inequality and necessary to help scores of families afford to get by in Massachusetts.

"Our signature collection totals exceeded our already high expectations. Support among Massachusetts voters for a $15/hour minimum wage and paid family and medical leave is very high across the state. Our grassroots campaign is already gearing up to go to the ballot and win," Raise Up Massachusetts spokesman Steve Crawford said in a statement to the News Service.

The coalition of labor, faith and community organizations has gathered 137,000 signatures for its proposal boosting the $11 minimum wage to $15 by 2022 and 133,500 for its paid leave proposal, according to Crawford.

The proposed 36 percent increase in the wage floor would be phased in over four years, under the proposal, which also ties the minimum wage to inflation. The measure also raises the $3.75 minimum wage for tipped employees until it is 60 percent of the full minimum wage, or $9 an hour, in 2022.

Backers of ballot questions have until the end of the day on Wednesday to file signatures with local elections officials for certification. This year, the campaigns need at least 64,750 certified signatures to stay alive. No more than a quarter of the signatures can come from any one county.

If ballot question proponents are unable to secure a law to their liking in the Legislature in early 2018, campaigns will have until June 19, 2018 to file an additional 10,792 signatures with Secretary of State William Galvin's office, with a maximum of 2,698 from any one county.

Frustrated with the migration of shoppers to online commerce where sales taxes are not always paid, the Retailers Association of Massachusetts launched a campaign this year to reduce the sales tax and require a sales-tax-free weekend, or holiday, each year.

Bill Rennie, a senior official at the retailers group, said he did not have an estimate of signatures gathered, but believes the campaign is on track.

"At this point we're confident that we certainly have more than enough to qualify," Rennie said.

Faced with a revenue downturn associated with the Great Recession, House Speaker Robert DeLeo helped lead a push in 2009 to raise the sales tax from 5 percent to 6.25 percent, a tax hike that won approval from former Gov. Deval Patrick.

Gov. Charlie Baker has not staked out positions on the three ballot questions. During his first unsuccessful run for governor in 2010, Baker called for cuts in the sales, income and the corporate tax rates. Baker dropped those pieces from his campaign platform when he edged Martha Coakley in 2014.

If adopted, the sales tax would fall to 5 percent, its old rate, in either late 2018 or early 2019 - the measure does not include a specific implementation date. The proposal would also require the Department of Revenue by July 15 each year to announce the dates of a sales-tax-free weekend in August.

The paid leave proposal provides up to 16 weeks of job-protected paid leave to care for a seriously ill or injured family member, a new child, or to meet family needs arising from a family member's active duty military status, according to Raise Up. It provides up to 26 weeks of job-protected paid medical leave to enable a worker to recover from his or her own serious illness or injury, or to care for a seriously ill or injured service member.

Workers taking paid leave would receive 90 percent of their average weekly wages, up to a maximum weekly benefit of $1,000, under the proposal.